Closet country fans, tune into these stations

There ought to be a secret handshake so the two kinds of country music fans could recognize one another.

By Beth Brelje Pocono Radio Dial Diva

There ought to be a secret handshake so the two kinds of country music fans could recognize one another.

There are proudly defensive listeners: "That's right. I like Trick Pony. You want to make something of it Bub?"

And closet fans, listening alone in the car, turning down speakers at traffic lights, and hiding the Garth Brooks box set under the seat.

Country suffers an image problem. Those who have never listened assume fans have too few teeth and too much beer. The format consistently performs well in ratings, yet advertising dollars do not always follow, thanks to the incorrect image of unsophisticated listeners.

The old joke is still somewhat true: Play a country song backwards, you sober up, your truck gets fixed and your dog comes back. Danceable beats blended with heartfelt ballads take you on an emotional ride like few other music genres. Songs range from inspiring, "If you're going through hell, keep on going" by Rodney Atkins and "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts, to Brad Paisley's lecherous chart climber "Ticks." Humor, love, loss, apple pie values are all found here.

Country music toned down the twang in the early 1980s. Take away a fiddle and the cowboy hat and there is a perfectly good pop song underneath.

Not that the fiddle has to be removed to cross over.

Max 106.3, a Clear Channel station licensed for broadcast from Blairstown, N.J., bills itself as the "'90s and Now." Max's pop playlist includes Nelly Furtado, Nickelback and Gwen Stefani. They are also running "Leave the Pieces," by The Wreckers and Carrie Underwood's very country "Before He Cheats." The song's vindictive lyrics begin "Right now he's probably slow dancing with a bleach blonde tramp, and she's probably getting frisky."

Max Program Director Rob Ryan says the songs work in the station's music rotation because they present themselves lyrically, "They are relatable to our female audience. They relate to that feeling of anger and pain and bond with the song."

Despite country's popularity and attractive advertising demographic, men and slightly more women ages 25 to 54, the Poconos is the last stop on Interstate 80 for country music. The format is still absent from the New York City airwaves.

In the Poconos, the strongest signal for country music is Allentown's Cat Country 96.1, owned by Citadel Broadcasting.

Heading west, Froggy 101, owned by Entercom, is based in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

From Honesdale, Bold Gold Media Group's Thunder Country 102.1 hits Wayne County and a repeater signal, 107.7 fills out patches of northeastern Pike County, including a strong signal in Milford and Matamoras.

92.5 WXTU in Philadelphia was nominated country music station of the year by the Academy of Country Music. The signal is thin but listenable in Stroudsburg.